CYBER-ETHICS

Wow. I was in complete shock last week when we discussed cyber-ethics. There's so much that goes on with this topic. I was especially shocked about the sexting epidemic. It makes me sick. I was also shocked about cyber-bullying. I have no tolerance for bullies, I don't care how old or young the bully may be. It's uncalled for.

After having our class discussion I facebooked many of my family members and friends. I told them all about the subject, what we had discussed, and I included a link to some of the statistics and facts we read. One of my cousins responded to my facebook email and stated his phone wasn't capable of receiving picture texts (his parents made sure of this before purchasing the phone) but he had seen sexting on his friends phones. He said it happens a lot. How pitiful. How sad.

I believe knowledge is empowering. I believe this is something we need to look at, head on, as technology isn't going anywhere. We need to stop the bullying. We need to stop the sexting. We need to stop the bullying. We need to keep our children and students from being informed incorrectly when researching ideas, topics, and questions.

I hope to find the time to really research cyber-ethics so that I will be more empowered as a future teacher and mother. I hope to find ways to explain the seriousness of these issues, while keeping the atmosphere comfortable and respectful. It seems many people laugh this off. It's not funny.

I also hope to find ways of avoiding potentially ugly situations. I want my class website to be safe for all my students. I want everyone of my links to be correct in the information posted.

I guess I'm naive about a lot of things going on in the world today. I assume people are good. I assume people are genuine. This was a big eye-opener for me.